The cavern shook like a dying beast. Lava fountained upward in jets of blistering fire, splattering molten rock against the walls. Every surface glowed with the furious breath of the earth, a hellish forge that swallowed light and air alike.The molten titan rose from the inferno, its colossal body stitched from fire and stone, its veins glowing like rivers of magma, its eyes pits of white-hot hatred that fixed solely on Jace.The air itself screamed around them, thick with sulfur and burning ash. Jace’s lungs seared as he drew breath, sweat cascading down his brow, but the cold focus in his eyes never wavered.He stood at the edge of a fractured basalt shelf, chains coiling and uncoiling around his arms, their black steel vibrating with anticipation.The titan roared. The sound wasn’t merely a noise, it was a shockwave that rattled the survivors hiding at the far end of the cavern. Stones rained from above, and the floor cracked further under the weight of the creature’s fury.“Jace!

When the light finally died, the world was unrecognizable. The cavern was gone, obliterated. What had once been a volcanic chamber was now a wasteland of smoldering stone, jagged cliffs, and rivers of molten fire stretching into the darkness. The air reeked of ash and burning metal.Maya’s ears rang. She stumbled to her knees, clutching the boy against her chest. Her eyes stung with tears and smoke as she searched desperately. “Jace!” Her voice cracked, swallowed by the echo of collapsing rock.There was no answer. Only the hiss of lava, the groan of settling stone, and the distant thunder of the mountain trembling under the destruction.Her heart clenched. The explosion… the titan… and Jace, standing at the center of it. He can’t be gone. He can’t.Around her, the scattered remnants of the survivors crawled out from behind boulders where they had thrown themselves. Bloodied, coughing, faces streaked with soot, but alive. Somehow, against all odds, alive.One man staggered forward, hi

The crimson fire swallowed them whole. There was no sense of air, no sense of falling anymore, just endless flame. The heat should have incinerated them instantly, yet it didn’t. It burned, yes, but it was deeper than flesh. It seared memory. Thought. Soul.Maya gasped, her scream torn from her throat, but no sound came. Her lungs filled with fire, not air, her chest convulsing as if drowning.Beside her, Jace’s ember eyes snapped open wider, glowing brighter against the hellscape. The chains clamped around his chest, arms, and legs like iron serpents, dragging him deeper.The Source whispered. Submit. Become flame. Become more.Maya shook her head violently, clutching Jace’s hand until her nails cracked. “Fight it, Jace!”His lips twisted in pain. “You… don’t understand. This is… what I am.”The fire shifted. In the next instant, they weren’t falling anymore. They were standing, if it could be called standing, on a plain of black glass, molten veins glowing beneath it.Above them, no

The silence was worse than the roar. The plain that had once heaved with molten rivers was still, choked in smoke. The chains that had rained from the Heart lay shattered in every direction, their fragments glowing like dying embers. And at the center of it all… Maya.Her body knelt, scorched and trembling, both arms locked against the colossal chain she had caught with her bare hands.The white fire still burned from her, but it sputtered, guttering in the ash-heavy air. Her skin was cracked like porcelain, fissures of light spilling from within. Jace stared in horror. “Maya…”He staggered toward her, his own chains faltering, their glow dimming as though the Heart itself had been stunned by her defiance.His knees buckled before he reached her, ash clinging to his face, sweat and blood mixing down his temple. She looked up at him, eyes blazing white. Her lips parted, and her voice came out hoarse but steady.“You’re… still you.”The ground split again, molten fire bubbling upward, t

The black tendril dragged Jace closer with every breath, pulling him toward the molten abyss that was the Heart’s core.His crimson chains thrashed, digging into the cracked stone, sparking as they scraped against the searing ground. But nothing slowed the pull.His lungs burned. His muscles screamed. His vision swam with heat and smoke. Yet through the haze, he saw the truth, this wasn’t just an attack. The Heart didn’t want to kill him. It wanted to devour him.The black chain coiled tighter, crushing the air from his chest. It wasn’t fire, not molten iron, it was something worse. An abyssal force that felt colder than death itself, even in the heart of this inferno.“Let… go…” Jace growled, his voice breaking.He slammed his crimson chains against the tendril. Sparks erupted, but his fire only sputtered on contact, hissing before being swallowed whole. His power was being eaten. The Heart’s laugh shook the battlefield.“THE EMBER IS NOTHING. THE HEART IS ALL.”The molten shell crac